Violent Tendencies
by Futakuchi Onna
Summary: 25 prompts for Laura 'X-23' Kinney; sometimes, it hurt more to feel. JulianxLaura, other minor pairings.
1. Mad

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

Laura's claws unsheathed with an audible 'snikt' like the cocking of a gun. Julian struggled, trying to get away from Nori, as sparks jumped between them. Laura could smell the fear and anguish wafting off of Nori, but she didn't care. Julian was not hers. Nori had no right to him.

She spun and ran out of the room, ignoring Cessily's startled cry of "Laura!", ignoring the way the scents racing off Julian's skin were annoyance, fear, surprise - but no lust, no care, no desire. It didn't matter that he didn't want Nori, it didn't matter that Nori didn't want him. All that mattered was the burning of pain and anger in her gut, the way she felt like retching or collapsing against the wall.

Her feet carried her into the bathroom, and claws still out, she slashed at the nearest thing - the walls. Cream tile cracked and splintered and rained all around her, gouging into her flesh and soaking her arms in blood. It was a mad dance, a violent release, a way to get out emotions that she had no name for, emotions that hurt.

Finally, she slid to the floor, legs childishly splayed in front of her. Tears were burning over her eyelashes, and she shakily dragged on of her claws across her forearm. It stung, but it helped. It always helped.

The blood dripping from her arms onto her clothes had a certain scent to it, a slight tang of metal and science that marked her as different, and she cut again, this time with more certainty. She needed to bleed away these emotions, get lost in the pain, cut until all the blood dripped out of her body. She knew it wasn't healthy, wasn't good - she'd been told this before. She didn't care.

Sometimes, it hurt more to feel.

She needed to purge.


	2. Crazy

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

The boy stumbled back, eyes wide as he stared at the slowly closing wound on Laura's midriff. What was his name? Laura didn't know. It didn't matter anyways. But he had one.

He was a normal boy. It wasn't his fault he got involved in this. Laura didn't even know if he was related to the target. He didn't look much like her - maybe her boyfriend? Not that it mattered. He was connected to the target. That made him a target, too.

Laura rarely knew why she was sent to kill people. Sometimes it was obvious - if they were encroaching on his territory, the Kingpin would send her to kill them. Those kills were simple and straightforward.

But then there were the kills like this. The kills that must be done in secret, or made to look accidental. The kills that must not be seen. Any witnesses must be taken out as well.

The target this time was a pretty young woman, late teens or so. She was pregnant, too - Laura could smell it on her - and she wondered if that had anything to do with why she'd been targeted, but it wasn't salient information. As far as she could tell, the target was the scion of a wealthy family who likely paid the Kingpin to keep in the limelight. She didn't know why the girl had been targeted. Perhaps the Kingpin had plans for her that didn't involve motherhood. Perhaps he was just being cruel.

But that was neither here nor there. What was, was that the target was dead upstairs, and the boy had seen. He had grabbed the first thing handy - a candelabra - and swung it at her. It had taken her by surprise, and thus the wound on her belly.

"Wh - what are you?" he stammered. Laura glanced up at him, eyes unreadable. His gaze flicked between her now-healed belly and the claws still extended from her knuckles, stained with the target's blood. "You - you're crazy!" He staggered and fell, lying on his back, and Laura pounced, using her knees to pin his arms to his sides.

Laura swung her blades down, stopping them a fraction of an inch from his neck. She leaned over, dark hair falling in a bloody curtain, and sniffed. Fear. And anguish, in his eyes.

"Yes. Now go." She slid off and stood, turning away.

The door crashed shut behind him.


	3. Bondage

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

Laura looped the ropes around the girl's wrists one, two, three times, and knotted them securely. The girl was trembling, mumbling to herself in Afghani, watching Laura in obvious terror over her niqab. Laura wrapped an arm around her waist and leaned her against her mother and father, both already tied. The mother was sobbing softly, head bowed as she mumbled out desperate prayers. The father just looked at Laura with hate in his eyes.

They were innocents in this. They would survive.

Laura stepped outside, ignoring the glaring heat beating down on her pale skin. Even in the night, this place was hot. Her feet made no noise at all as she moved onto the next house. She'd moved through the rest of the village already, tying the occupants but leaving everyone alive. Her only instructions regarding them and been to 'get them out of the way'. The Kingpin might have meant to kill them, but as far as she was concerned, this was enough. It was her own quiet rebellion.

This next house held her target. It was larger, lavish - far more opulent than the rest of the worn out village. She supposed it's occupant only kept the villagers around to push himself up, to use as comparison.

The door broke easily and quietly, and she slipped through soft as a shadow. The kill was easy and swift. The man leapt to his feet, called for his guards, but she'd tied them up as well. Her claws bit through his neck, and he collapsed under a spray of his own blood.

Sunrise was breaking the horizon when she stepped out of the house. Her jacket was spattered with blood, and as she moved from house to house, untying the villagers, they all noticed, but none commented on it. None of them said a word, only watched her as though she were a wolf among sheep.

As soon as she finished, she headed out. She was supposed to rendezvous with her ride a few kilometers away, and she had little time to get there. However, as soon as she was a few steps out of the village, one of the children, scent ripe with fear, raced out, hugging her tightly around the middle. She murmured something in Afghani that Laura didn't understand, but she got the message. _Thank you._

Laura walked out of the village alone. She looked back only once, to see them all watching her. A wolf, among sheep.


End file.
